Yankees fans may be overlooking paramount concern with Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade rumors

Initially, when New York Yankees fans heard teams had called Brian Cashman about a Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade, they probably said to themselves, "not surprising, Jazz is a great player and it doesn't seem as if a contract extension is anywhere close right now, if it's even going to happen at all."

The buzz got so loud, in fact, that Cashman addressed it all with the media this week. Then, some of us might've sat back and said, "Hmmm ... wait a second ..."

Why? Because a contending team with one of the highest payrolls in the sport should never be on anybody's call list about an offseason trade for an All-Star rental player. That's a commodity and luxury teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, etc. keep. They are the ones calling lesser clubs about star rentals so they can sell them on the fact the other front office possesses an asset not worth keeping; one they'd be better off selling high on.

So ... is it possible ... the Yankees are viewed as a less serious team/contender? Do other front offices know more about the Yankees payroll rumors than we do? Did Trent Grisham accepting the qualifying offer really derail New York's offseason plans? A silent Winter Meetings surely didn't help the speculation, either. Announcing that the lineup is too left-handed didn't either.

That's what it feels like. Because if that's not the case, then the Yankees are legitimately shopping him for reasons we can't understand. Either they're selling what they can in order to re-tool for 2027 and beyond, or there's some sort of grand (and more effective) plan to replace Chisholm in the aggregate. But what would that plan even be? Cashman just told us the Yankees weren't liking the prices in free agency and on the trade market. If there's very little in the works, then how can you even entertain moving on from an All-Star?

While that's a potential concerning development as well, it's much less so than some of the game's top contenders looking down upon the Bombers. That would further confirm the Yankees have lost their edge and are indeed viewed as the punching bag when the spotlight is on them.

The track record is there, too. Do you think other front offices wouldn't be taking note of the entire Aaron Boone era? Their banner year was 2024, when they reached the World Series with Juan Soto and got dispatched in five games due to embarrassing decisions and mistakes. Beyond that, the Red Sox and Astros bounced them twice, and two other rivals in the Blue Jays and Rays took care of them the other two times. "You know, the more we look at this, the more we realize this entire team is carried by Aaron Judge and has constanty succumbed to its own mistakes and outside pressure" - probably a thought from an intern working for another team.

We're not saying this is definitively the case. But it can't be ruled out as one of the possibilities. For a team like the Yankees, in theory, the Chisholm rumors never should've existed in the first place if they were hell bent on winning or avenging a championship/early playoff loss. So you can see why there's worry.